The doses from AstraZeneca are waiting for trial results in the US, while countries that authorised the vaccine beg to have them.
Employees work in a lab at Emergent Biosolutions, which is manufacturing vaccines for AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson on February 8, 2021 in Baltimore, Maryland. There are millions of doses in the building which are awaiting FDA approval to be distributed. (Photo by Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Tens of millions of doses of the coronavirus vaccine made by British-Swedish company AstraZeneca are sitting idly in U.S. manufacturing facilities, awaiting results from its U.S. clinical trial while countries that have authorized its use beg for access.
The fate of those doses of AstraZeneca’s vaccine is the subject of an intense debate among White House and federal health officials, with some arguing the administration should let them go abroad where they are desperately needed, while others are not ready to relinquish them, according to senior administration officials.
AstraZeneca is involved in those conversations.
“We understand other governments may have reached out to the U.S. government about donation of AstraZeneca doses, and we’ve asked the U.S. government to give thoughtful consideration to these requests,” said Gonzalo Viña, a spokesperson for AstraZeneca.
About 30 million doses are currently bottled at AstraZeneca’s facility in West Chester, Ohio, which handles “fill-finish,” the final phase of the manufacturing process, during which the vaccine is placed in vials, one official with knowledge of the stockpile said.
©2019 New York Times News Service